Primeval Series 6 Episode 3 - Home and Away
by kindervelter
Summary: In the third episode of Series 6, "Home and Away", tensions between Matt and Hunt reach a boiling point and Lester decides to send the Core Team on a team bonding retreat, calling in an old friend for help. Before long, however, they find themselves deep in the woods with no way of contacting the ARC being hunted by savage creatures. Meanwhile, Emily continues her investigation.


Primeval

Series 6, Episode 3

"Home and Away"

 _Previous on "Primeval":_

 _When Jess is trapped inside a museum full of velociraptors on her day off the team comes to her rescue, but a malfunctioning security system gives them trouble. While attempting to survive, Jess sees one of Matt's doppelgangers, leading Matt to tell Becker, Abby, Connor, and Emily about them as well._

 _Meanwhile, Emily and Becker both notice seeming discrepancies in the timeline, prompting them both to worry that a new threat may be on the horizon._

* * *

Chapter 1

"Jess, when is our 'special guest' arriving? I don't know how much more bickering I can handle before I take Matt's EMD and shoot him with it."

Jessica Parker couldn't help but smile as her elderly - at least in spirit, if not in age - boss appeared behind her, leaning on her desk and speaking of the most recent pain in his ass: the ongoing drama between Matt Anderson and Ryan Hunt. At the moment, the two men were standing on the opposite side of the ARC's main room, leaning against the glass walls of Lester's personal office and arguing. This was quickly becoming the norm around the office, along with massive migraines.

"She just texted me to say she was almost here. Shouldn't be too long now." Lester gave what Jess judged to be a smile - though on his face they were so rare one could never quite tell - as he thought about their visitor.

"Well then I suppose we all have something to be thankful for. And have you informed Team Three that they'll need to be on call while the others are away? I'll be trusting Emily and Reddington to keep disaster in check until they get back."

Jess giggled at this. "Yeah, Lester, I sent out an email a few hours ago. Emily and Eric are on their way in to meet with me right now."

"Perfect. Then, if you will, let's gather the Core Team in here. I've been looking forward to seeing the looks on their faces when she walks in."

"You've been looking forward to something?" Jess joked.

"Shocking, I know."

Without another word Jess turned back to face her computer screen, pressing the button to turn on the ARC's PA system. "Will the Core Team please report to the HUB immediately for an important informational meeting?" Jess said into the microphone. It crackled for a moment before switching off.

A few minutes later Abby straggled in carrying a large bag of what appeared to be dog food. Connor wasn't far behind her.

"Oi, Jess, what's this about then? I haven't fed the creatures in the menagerie since last night; they'll be getting angry soon," Abby said, dropping the large bag of food next to Jess' chair. The smaller woman startled at the impact.

"Team Five will be taking care of the menagerie for a couple of days, Abby. I'll have one of them come and pick this up," she looked distastefully at the food, "for you."

"Why a couple of days?" Connor asked. Jess could tell from the crinkle in his brow and the way he was holding onto Abby's hand that he was nervous. Jess just hoped that the "special guest" would make him happy enough to go along with Lester's plan.

"I'm afraid I'm not really at liberty to tell you that. You'll know soon enough." Connor looked as though he wanted to ask another question, but he was interrupted by the arrival of Captain Becker.

"This had better be good. The artillery hasn't been stocked in over two weeks and God knows no one else around here is going to do it anytime soon," he grouched, moving to stand next to Connor and Abby behind Jess' desk.

The brunette gave a sly smile before answering. "Actually, I've got Kate from Team Five doing that right now. You're needed here."

"Jess, what the hell? Can you cut the mystery crap and just clue us into what's going on?" Becker asked, crouching so he was eye level with his - well, Jess didn't actually know what she was to him. In fact, that had been quite the source of conversation over the past couple of weeks. If he wasn't so damn afraid of committing to something for once in his damn life then maybe -

No. This was decidedly _not_ the time to be taking stock of her relationship status.

"Look, all I can tell you is that Lester's been noticing some, uh, tension within the team." Matt and Hunt's loud arguing could be heard in the background, reinforcing her point. "And he's bringing someone into help smooth things out. I don't know all the details, but I do know the Core Team will be taking a few days off. Team Three is going to pick up the slack while you're gone."

"Taking a few days off? What the hell is that about?" Becker fumed, his fingers curling into tight fists. Jess wasn't sure if she wanted to know what went on inside that man's head or not.

"Like I said, that's all I know. Now I've got a meeting with Emily and Reddington, so I'll catch up with you all when you get back." She grabbed her stuff and began packing up, listening as Becker complained to Abby in "hushed" (at least hushed for him) tones. She slipped the last folder into her bag and was just readying to leave the room when she felt a hand grasp her around her arm.

"Jess, if we're going to be gone for a few days, there's something I need you to do." It was Connor. She nodded, the pair wordlessly stepping a few paces away from the HUB. "Abby brought back some pictures on her cellphone from the plane crash last month. You remember, Hunt's first incursion."

"No way I could forget that," she mused.

"Well I've been working on restoring the pictures. The files are all uploaded to the ARC's main server, but I haven't had a chance to go in and clean them up. Abby's really nervous about it and I was going to do it this weekend but -"

"But now you'll be otherwise indisposed," she finished. "So you want me to clean them and have them ready for when you get back?"

"If you can, yeah…"

"Fine," Jess shrugged, acquiescing. She didn't exactly love being treated as everyone's helper monkey, but even she knew there was no one else who could do it. At least, no one who could do it half as well.

"And Jess, one more thing: who's this 'mystery guest'?"

"That would be me," Jess and Connor both turned around at the sound of a woman's voice - a voice they both knew all too well. The familiar brunette's heels clicked across the concrete floor and her designer pantsuit wrinkled ever-so-slightly as Connor wrapped her in a hug. Finally the embrace broke and the woman took a step back, smoothing out her shirt and extending a business like handshake towards Connor.

"Jenny Lewis-Miller, at your service."

* * *

Emily found Eric waiting for her in the hallway outside Jess' office, sipping a cup of coffee in one hand and holding a second cup in the other. He passed it over to her as she approached, the former victorian accepting it with a grateful nod.

"Any idea what this meeting is about?" Eric asked, motioning towards the door.

"No clue," she said, taking a sip of the too-hot drink in her hand. She pursed her lips, taking it away from her mouth. "It's Jess though - the news can't be that bad."

A moment later they heard the tell tale clicking of high heels and the brunette strutted quickly around the corner, her hands overflowing with folders. Emily reached out to help her while Eric worked the door, pushing it open for them all to step inside. A moment's awkward silence followed as Jess sifted through her papers, scraps falling here and there as she arranged them into neat piles and muttered to herself.

"Jess, you alright?" Eric asked finally. She looked up from her papers, her eyes drifting between Eric and Emily. Finally she sat, urging them to do the same.

"I'm fine. Just… always busy. Everyone _wants_ something around here and they can't do a single thing for themselves."

"Jess, you know we're always here to help," Emily offered, pushing her coffee across the table towards the younger woman as though she'd bought it for her. Eric caught her eye, giving her a sly smile as Jess grabbed the drink and took a sip.

"Believe me I'd ask for it, but your help is already being employed by Lester today. He's sending the Core Team on a sabbatical of sorts and needs Team Three to step up and take point on any incursions."

"Of course," Eric said, perhaps a bit too eager. Though, Emily thought, she could hardly blame him; the two of them were unquestionably overqualified to be on Team Three, and yet politics and fate had stuck them both there. Maybe some real action would do her good.

"We can handle it, Jess," Emily added, looking her straight in the eyes. Jess nodded slowly, took another sip.

"I know you can, and honestly I'm grateful there's someone around here I can trust to just do their jobs. I'm just a bit overwrought with Connor needing me to do both my job and his and Becker freaking out about the curator thing and -" Jess abruptly cut off, giving the impression she'd said more than she meant.

"What curator thing?" Emily asked, her voice taking on a conspiratorial tone. Jess looked for a moment as though she was unsure of whether to continue. Finally she just shook her head.

"What the hell, why not tell you two?" And so she did tell them. _Everything._ Her and Becker's relationship weirdness and the curator who was in a wheelchair and then wasn't and that Jo girl that she thought maybe Becker was into but couldn't quite be sure and -

Eventually, Emily tuned out and waited for the rant to be over.

"Jess, I want to talk to you about all of this, but if Becker saw something and then suddenly it seems to have changed, I need to talk to him immediately. Can you fill Eric in while I go find him?" the victorian asked. Eric gave her pleading eyes, as if to say "please don't leave me here with her." Emily ignored him.

"I can, but Becker's gone. The whole team is on some stupid retreat with Jenny Lewis-Miller so they can learn to get along better. No phones, no communication, nothing. Just three days out in the woods, totally isolated."

"Three days, totally isolated, in a cabin filled with ARC employees?" Eric asked, laughing slightly. Then, after a beat: "Let's place a bet. Which do you think will kill them first: some creature, or each other?"

* * *

It was weird, Jenny Lewis-Miller thought as she listened to the ARC employees complain around her, how at home she could still feel there even after all those years. As Jenny turned the wheel of the SUV to merge onto the highway she shared a look with Abby Maitland, the blonde zoologist seated next to her. Behind them Matt and Becker were talking about guns; Jenny had wisely put Connor, who could talk to _anyone,_ in the way back with Hunt.

"So let me get this straight," Abby said, finally breaking the silence in the front seat. "Lester hired you to truck us all off to some resort in the woods so we could work on 'team building'?" she asked, incredulous. Jenny nodded, deftly steering the vehicle down the seemingly endless stretch of road. It was a full two hour drive to the "Happy Trails Corporate Synergy Resort" where the team would be spending the next three days in total isolation; three days that, if the car ride there was any indication, could prove to be the longest of her life.

"Basically," Jenny said, reflecting on how exactly she'd be conned into working with these people again.

As if reading her mind, Connor shouted from the back: "How in the world did Lester get you to come back after the ARC almost ruined your wedding?" Always tactful, that Connor.

"Let's just say there was an incentives package I couldn't afford to turn down," she responded, suppressing a smile at the truly ridiculous amount of money Lester had offered her in exchange for three days of hanging out with her old teammates/friends.

"So we're going to be spending three days in a cabin in the woods doing what, exactly? Singing campfire songs and making s'mores and reflecting on all the good times we've had slaying extinct creatures and running for our lives?" Matt questioned, helpful as always.

"Something like that. Lester brought me in to help you guys come together as a time and to help you all resolve your personal and professional issues. _Especially_ your issues, Matt," Jenny said, intentionally sniping at the man she had, in all honesty, only ever said about six words to. Their only interactions had been at her wedding when he was either yelling at Emily that she _had_ to stay by his side or when he was smacking down evil hyenas during her vows. Not exactly the traits she looked for in a new friend.

As for Hunt, well, the jury was still out. She'd marked several points against him when she'd wandered into the ARC to find him nose to nose with Matt yelling like a child about his intelligence and ability to lead the team and how he was "so much more responsible" than Matt. Points in his favor? If she was honest, they mostly came from the fact that he reminded her of Cutter - a prospect she wasn't entirely comfortable with and most _definitely_ didn't want to think about at that moment.

Beyond that, she'd been excited to see Abby, Connor, and Becker after nearly two years apart. She'd called after Convergence to see that they'd all made it through alive, but still hadn't been able to bring herself to come visit. The memories of everything that had happened to her still weighed heavily on her shoulders and coming back just felt like too much at the time. Now, she supposed, Lester knew all it took to break her resolve was a check and a few expensive bottles of wine.

"I don't think it's wise for us to be handing over all of our phones to you; after all, we are the _Core Team,"_ Becker argued, emphasizing the last words mostly, Jenny suspected, to make himself feel a little better about the whole experience. If there was one thing she knew of her old friend, it was that he _hated_ feeling like he wasn't in his element. But, she supposed, maybe that was what was needed.

"Total isolation. That's how this works. Once we get there all the phones and keys go into a bag and the couple who owns the place put them into a safe. Then it's just us six out there with no distractions and lots of time to work through all of our deepest issues," Jenny said caustically, turning her attention back to the road and scanning for the turn off.

"I hate to be the voice of reason," Connor said. "But the last time we were all together ancient hyaenodons attacked your wedding and nearly killed all of us. As a group we certainly don't seem to have the best luck. Is isolation really the best idea?"

Truth be known, Jenny _had_ had her doubts about the very same problems Connor was bringing up; after a few years at the ARC how could she not? But in the end Jenny knew that the team being able to function was a reward worth the risk. After all, a lack of cohesion was what had nearly gotten her killed when she'd been team leader, and she'd be damned if she let something like that happen again.

So yes, she rationalized, the risk was worth it. It had to be.

God, she hoped it had to be.


End file.
